Geoff Parling was so surprised to be named the man of the match that he gave his bottle of champagne to a supporter for whom Christmas came late. What Leicester want the England second row to give them is his signature, with Gloucester among those interested in signing the 29-year old.

Parling was part of a dominant Leicester pack who deserved more than all-out defence in the closing minutes to preserve victory, but with the Italy prop Martin Castrogiovanni considering moving in the summer and Parling yet to commit himself, the strength in depth at forward that has served the Tigers over the years is in danger of being diluted.

"I am not prepared to say anything about my contract talks in public," Parling said. "I believe they should be conducted in private. I am concentrating on the next few weeks: we have a couple of massive Heineken Cup games coming up, make or break for that part of the season."

Leicester were awarded 10 penalties at the scrum, seven in the first 32 minutes, and their director of rugby, Richard Cockerill, was angry that the persistent infringing resulted in only one yellow card among the Gloucester front row. When he reflected on the late penalty awarded to the visitors from a scrum that made for an uncomfortable final few minutes for the Tigers, he launched a tirade against the referee, Andrew Small.

"The main thing was that we did not panic in the end even though we did not get the rub of the green," Parling said. "We stuck to what we know we are good at. I do not know what happened in the final scrum but we had been dominant there throughout. I did not deserve my man of the match award and gave the bottle to a bloke in the crowd."

It was to Gloucester's credit that they nearly nicked a game they had spent mostly on the back foot. The wet conditions did not suit their open approach but they were not afraid to have a go: Freddie Burns launched four attacks from his own 22 but one of them, immediately after his third penalty had given his side a six-point lead, ended in the only try of the match when Manu Tuilagi forced a turnover.

"It was testament to the players that we led for large parts of the game despite the pressure we were under up front," Nigel Davies, the Gloucester director of rugby, said. "Conditions suited them better than us: handling was difficult and even though we had a chance to win at the end, we were not at our best and it was a fair result."